World War II veteran recalls Nuremberg Trials

LORY POUNDERlory.pounder@staugustinerecord.com

Published Monday, February 13, 2006

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RETIRED ARMY COL. JOHN J. MASTERS SR. served in the military from 1944 to 1975. Masters fought during World War II in France and Germany, often facing heavy combat. After the war, he served as a guard during the Nuremberg Trials. By JUSTIN YURKANIN, justin.yurkanin@staugustinerecord.comx

On the opening day of the Nuremberg Trials, John Masters' job was to inspect the attic for booby traps and bombs.

When he finished, he stayed there to watch history unfold from a glass window above the witness stand.

"I remember the justice saying 'We're not trying these generals and admirals because they are generals and admirals. We're trying them because they are common criminals,' " said Col. John Joseph Masters Sr., 81, of St. Augustine.

Masters was a guard at the Palace of Justice at the time.

Looking back, he wishes he had tried to talk to some of Nazi leaders, but at the time he didn't care to.

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JOHN J. MASTERS, pictured in Holland in 1945. Contributed Photo.

Masters said he always wanted to be a soldier. He was drafted while still at St. Joseph Academy in 1943. Thirty days after graduation, he was sent to Camp Blanding for training and then Infantry Officer's Candidate School before going overseas.

He first saw combat at the Battle of Rittershoffen-Hatten in France, a place he later learned was his great grandmother's hometown.

"We tore that town all up," Masters said.

"Most people say they were scared to death of combat," Masters said. "I can honestly say I wasn't scared. I was thrilled."

It was what he had trained to do. However, the gung-ho feeling wore off after seeing fellow men dead and dying. One of the sights he will never forget is 40 American soldiers laying dead and frozen in the snow in an apple orchard.

By the time Masters' division moved to the next village, the cold had gotten to him.

"My feet were so cold I didn't know they were there," Masters said.

He put them in a fire the soldiers made in the streets and they have never been the same, he said.

On March 24, 1945, Masters was part of an assault across the Rhine River at Dinslaken, Germany, for which he earned the Silver Star.

"It's a wonder I didn't get killed," he said as he recounted the battle and a few close calls.

At the end of the war, Masters said he asked a German soldier why he fought for the Nazis. The man replied that Adolf Hitler offered them hope in a time of desperation and it was the best he could do to survive, Masters remembered.

Masters returned home to St. Augustine in December 1946. He had saved $5,000 and was released from active duty in the military.

A few months later, he attended the Associated Infantry Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Ga. and then enlisted as a staff sergeant in October 1947, after the money he saved ran out. He was sent back to Germany.

Masters remembers watching people in the streets pull eggs shells and anything they could find to eat from the trash. To have a carton of cigarettes was like being a millionaire, he said.

A few years later, he moved to Atlanta to work as an assistant professor of military science and tactics in the ROTC. That is where he met his wife, Cleo Masters. They have been together for 51 years.

Masters went on to do a tour of Korea and fought in Vietnam before retiring in September 1975.